Tony Mowbray revealed there were several clubs keen to sign Scott Wharton on loan - but the interest came from League Two sides.

Wharton moved to Northampton Town on a season-long deal having agreed a new contract at Ewood Park.

It is a fifth successive loan spell in League Two for the 21-year-old who finished last season with Bury.

It is approaching three years since the Salesbury-born defender made his Rovers debut, scoring in a 2-2 draw with Burton Albion.

However, his last appearance came in November 2017 and he has struggled for game-time during his time out on loan.

While Wharton was expected to leave on loan again this summer, it had been thought a League One move would have been on the cards.

But Mowbray said: “There was a fair bit of interest in him from League Two.

“We had discussions with Scott and his agent and this is the deal they wanted to take.

“I think Scott wants to play and whether he could get a League One to do that, but the phone didn’t ring at that level.

“The kid doesn’t want to play Under-23s football for us and as I said to him, it’s the right thing to do.”

Rovers are in the midst of a defender search of their own, with Mowbray keen to conclude two deals before the transfer window closes on August 8.

The first of those could be tied up shortly, with Rovers having made progress in the long and drawn out negotiations with Manchester City over Tosin Adarabioyo and hope to finally announce a season-long loan deal.

Wharton is one of a clutch of promising young central defenders at Ewood Park, but given his time away on loan, looks to have fallen behind Tyler Magloire and Joe Grayson in the pecking order.

He featured just once in pre-season for the senior side, and Mowbray feels Wharton needs to develop physically in order to make an impact at first team level.

“I had a really interesting conversation with him. Three years ago he was playing in the first team, he scored a goal, and three years down the line, why isn’t he in our team?,” he added.

“I still feel that he needs to fill out, grow in to his body, become a man, and grow his core and upper body to become a tough centre half to deal with things.

“At this moment he has lots of quality, his physicality is something that three years on from his debut is something he needs to grow in to and I’ve always said that centre halves, the last thing they develop is the ability to play against big, strong centre forward who can knock them about.

“That’s what he has to develop and hopefully when he comes back next year he’s more ready and understands what it takes.”